The Charlotte Hornets will hire Canton Charge head coach Steve Hetzel to be an assistant, Yahoo Sports reported on Thursday. Hetzel guided the Charge to a 28-22 finish and first-round loss in the Development League playoffs during his only season with the team.

Hetzel replaced Alex Jensen, who was the team’s first coach before he was hired away by the Utah Jazz prior to last season.

The Cavs defied the odds yet again Tuesday, turning a 1.7 percent chance into the No. 1 pick in next month’s draft. The Cavs become the first team to win the draft lottery in consecutive seasons and have now won three of the last four.

This is considered one of the deepest drafts in years and the Cavs will now have their pick of everyone, including Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins.

It’s believed the Cavs have ranked Parker at the top of their board most of the season.

INDEPENDENCE: Kyrie Irving will play for his third coach in four seasons next year, but Cavs General Manager David Griffin adamantly disputed Tuesday the notion Irving had any involvement in Mike Brown’s firing.

“Any – any insinuation that Kyrie had anything to do with this decision is patently false,” Griffin said, at one time pounding the table for effect. “It’s unfair. He was not counseled on this decision, nor was he counseled on the previous coaching decision (Byron Scott). It’s a completely unfair assertion and one that I want everyone to understand very clearly. That is not a narrative that we are going to go with.”

Griffin was introduced Tuesday as the full-time general manager. He’ll get to work immediately replacing Brown – those discussions began on Monday – and conceded the fact the Cavs will be operating under their third coach in as many years leaves the perception of instability within the organization.

“This is not sometimes a function of a lack of stability. It’s a function of a lack of fit,” Griffin said. “Fit extends to every decision we make.”

Mike Brown has been fired as head coach of the Cavaliers on the same day the interim tag was removed from David Griffin as general manager.

Brown went 33-49 last season and the Cavs missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. Owner Dan Gilbert hired Brown back prior to last season and admitted he made a mistake in firing him the first time – only to fire him again 384 days later.

Brown signed a five-year, $20 million deal prior to last season, but the Cavs will begin next season with their third coach in as many years.

Gilbert brought Brown back to fix the Cavs’ defense, which was worst in the league during the 2012-13 season. Brown improved the Cavs’ defense from 30th to 12 in opponents’ field-goal percentage and improved the club by nine wins over Byron Scott’s final season, but it wasn’t good enough in part because the Cavs failed to make the playoffs in a dreary Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers are expected to remove the interim label from David Griffin and make him their permanent general manager within the coming days, multiple sources with knowledge of the proceedings confirmed Saturday night.

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has remained silent on any changes to the Cavs’ front office and coaching staff since the season concluded. Plenty of names have been linked to the Cavs throughout this front office search, including David Morway, Bryan Colangelo, Donnie Walsh and Joe Dumars, among others. But Griffin has emerged as the choice, and with the NBA predraft camp scheduled for this week in Chicago, the deal could be completed this week.

The Cavs went 17-16 with Griffin in charge following the firing of Chris Grant. Now they enter a pivotal summer that includes a lottery pick, more than $20 million in cap space and potential contract extensions for Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson.

They also have to make decisions on their own free agents such as Luol Deng, Spencer Hawes and C.J. Miles.